Iterations (STARTER)

• Introduced in GitLab Starter 13.1.
• It was deployed behind a feature flag, disabled by default.
• Became enabled by default on GitLab 13.2.
• It's enabled on GitLab.com.
• It's able to be enabled or disabled per-group.
• It's recommended for production use.
• For GitLab self-managed instances, GitLab administrators can opt to disable it. (STARTER ONLY)

Iterations are a way to track issues over a period of time. This allows teams to track velocity and volatility metrics. Iterations can be used with milestones for tracking over different time periods.

For example, you can use:

• Milestones for Program Increments, which span 8-12 weeks.
• Iterations for Sprints, which span 2 weeks.

In GitLab, iterations are similar to milestones, with a few differences:

• Iterations are only available to groups.
• A group can only have one active iteration at a time.
• Iterations require both a start and an end date.
• Iteration date ranges cannot overlap.

View the iterations list

To view the iterations list, in a group, go to {issues} Issues > Iterations. From there you can create a new iteration or click an iteration to get a more detailed view.

Create an iteration

NOTE: You need Developer permissions or higher to create an iteration.

To create an iteration:

1. In a group, go to {issues} Issues > Iterations.
2. Click New iteration.
3. Enter the title, a description (optional), a start date, and a due date.
4. Click Create iteration. The iteration details page opens.

Edit an iteration

Introduced in GitLab Starter 13.2.

NOTE: You need Developer permissions or higher to edit an iteration.

To edit an iteration, click the three-dot menu ({ellipsis_v}) > Edit iteration.

Add an issue to an iteration

Introduced in GitLab Starter 13.2.

To learn how to add an issue to an iteration, see the steps in Managing issues.

View an iteration report

Viewing iteration reports in projects introduced in GitLab Starter 13.5.

You can track the progress of an iteration by reviewing iteration reports. An iteration report displays a list of all the issues assigned to an iteration and their status.

The report also shows a breakdown of total issues in an iteration. Open iteration reports show a summary of completed, unstarted, and in-progress issues. Closed iteration reports show the total number of issues completed by the due date.

To view an iteration report, go to the iterations list page and click an iteration's title.

Iteration burndown and burnup charts

• Introduced in GitLab Starter 13.5.
• Feature flag removed in GitLab Starter 13.7.

The iteration report includes burndown and burnup charts, similar to how they appear when viewing a milestone.

Burndown charts help track completion progress of total scope, and burnup charts track the daily total count and weight of issues added to and completed in a given timebox.

Group issues by label

Introduced in GitLab 13.8.

You can group the list of issues by label. This can help you view issues that have your team's label, and get a more accurate understanding of scope attributable to each label.

To group issues by label:

1. In the Group by dropdown, select Label.
2. Select the Filter by label dropdown.
3. Select the labels you want to group by in the labels dropdown. You can also search for labels by typing in the search input.
4. Click or tap outside of the label dropdown. The page is now grouped by the selected labels.

Disable iterations (STARTER ONLY)

GitLab Iterations feature is deployed with a feature flag that is enabled by default. GitLab administrators with access to the GitLab Rails console can disable it for your instance. :group_iterations can be enabled or disabled per-group.

To enable it:

# Instance-wide
Feature.enable(:group_iterations)
# or by group
Feature.enable(:group_iterations, Group.find(<group ID>))

To disable it:

# Instance-wide
Feature.disable(:group_iterations)
# or by group
Feature.disable(:group_iterations, Group.find(<group ID>))